Recruitment agencies. Most people go and work for a big one like Hays Montrose or a locally successful one. They then learn the ropes and tricks and get trained and experienced. They then team up with a mate, steal the CV database and contact everyone on it after a couple of years saying that you registered with their new firm a while ago and requesting an up to date CV as "they have some really great opportunities for experienced people like you"They get up to date CV's and away they go. They are now a recruitment agency!

All over the country 100's of agency employees are setting up in their spare bedrooms calling themselves initials like PRC, ABC, or names like "something" resource, "something" Options, Team,

So we now have main agency businesses with inexperienced wa*kers working there and small one man operations with hardly any contacts hoping for a placement every couple of months to pay their mortgages.

Neither being any use for the jobhunter!

Whilst I concede that somewhere in the universe is a hard working honest recruitment agency employee who puts the candidates first and only advertises real jobs I find it hard not to laugh til I wet myself writing this

You're both right, some get 17, or 20% of the salary offered but there are also ones that get £250, that's called flat fee recruitment. I have no experience of the low priced flat fee recruiters though, I imagine you get what you pay for.r

But yes, qualifications, training and a great deal of experience too. Some dopey bimbo in an agency with a degree in social studies or psychology isn't going to know who is the best candidate as they have NO IDEA what the job entails at all.They dont even know that Hounslow is LONDON!

I think I've had direct experience of this. I remember being in the job centre a few years ago when I was unemployed and finding lots of jobs advertised on the "system" with a particular recruitment agency. I printed the ones off that I liked the sound of and when I called the agency they were eager for me to go in and register. When I did I was told that there was "nothing at the moment" but they'd be in touch. I assumed this meant that they were advertising fictional jobs purely to get people to register and then hoping to get them into a job later. Not good.

It is about time the JOB CENTRE banned recruitment agencies from using their system.

well said mate most jobs i go for are from recruitment agencies with job centre pluswaste of time in my eyes or you will get 1 or 2 days work aweekabout 3 weeks ago i was told they have loads of work for me so i signed offi got 2 days week in 2 weeks WASTE OF TIME